World News Quick Take

AGENCIES

ITALY

Mafia boss arrested

A senior mafia boss who is one of the nation’s 10 most wanted men has been arrested in the Netherlands, the government announced on Saturday. Francesco Nirta, a senior leader of the ‘Ndrangheta crime gang based in the southern Calabria region, was arrested in an apartment in the suburbs of Utrecht on Friday, it said in a statement. The 39-year-old has been on the run since 2007 and in 2011 was convicted in absentia of murder. In a statement, the government hailed the arrest, saying it “inflicts one more blow to the ‘Ndrangheta” and reiterating that “the fight against organized crime remains an absolute priority for the government.” Nirta’s arrest was carried out jointly by police from Calabria, Milan and the Netherlands, and coordinated by Interpol.

SOUTH AFRICA

Alleged pedophile posts bail

A German Catholic priest wanted for child abuse by Germany has been released on bail, but will go on trial in November for committing similar acts, sources said on Friday. The priest, whose identity was not given, but who was said to be in his fifties and from Aachen, was arrested on Sept. 13 as he left a court in the northern town of Brits, where he was standing trial for assault and acts of indecency. The arrest was based on an international warrant and a German extradition request issued several years ago, sources familiar with the case said.

JAMAICA

Police seize marijuana

Authorities have seized more than 660kg of marijuana near the island’s largest port. Police said on Saturday that officials found the drugs after stopping a truck that was trying to enter the Kingston Container Terminal. Police said the marijuana was compressed and ready for export. One man was detained on Friday during the seizure, but no one has been charged.

UNITED STATES

Sisters reunite after 73 years

Three sisters have been reunited in western New York 73 years after their mother abandoned the older two and disappeared with the youngest sister. The Daily News of Batavia reported on Saturday that the sisters — 80-year-old Joan Billings, 78-year-old Shirley Mortellaro and 77-year-old Mary Kidwell — were reunited this month after decades of searching for each other. The sisters’ story begins in 1940 in Toronto, where their father was in the Canadian Air Force. The sisters told the newspaper that when their father was away, their mother would put them in the bedroom and tell them to stay there while she went partying. One day, the sisters said, they caught their mother with a boyfriend and told their father. A fight ensued and the mother left with her youngest daughter. The two older sisters settled in western New York while Kidwell ended up in Columbus, Ohio. The two older sisters spent years looking for Mary, and she looked for them as well. That search ended about three weeks ago when Mortellaro got a call from her grandson’s girlfriend’s mother in Florida, who had taken up the search. The woman had connected online with a friend of Kidwell’s who was also helping with the search. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” Kidwell said.